Thunder surges past the Bobcats, 99-82

For a second there, this game was close. Then everyone blinked and the Thunder was up 15 with two minutes left.

That’s what outstanding defense does for you. The longer you play it, the longer you give your offense a chance to catch up and eventually break out. It’s not that the Thunder ever was bad offensively in this one, it’s just they couldn’t get things rolling for more than three or four minutes at a time. The only way Charlotte was beating Oklahoma City was if it could keep the Thunder from scoring. But eventually after a bunch of bending it all broke as OKC went on a 9-0 run after Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins checked back in the game.

You could almost see the looks of confusion and frustration on the Bobcat players as they searched for a way through the Thunder’s defense. Try here… no. Over here? No. How about on the block. Oh crap, there’s No. 5 and HERE COMES NO. 9 FLYING AT ME!! Breaking through the Thunder right now isn’t an easy task, especially for a team like the Bobcats who don’t have a reliable go to scorer on the roster.

It was definitely an outstanding defensive effort — especially in the fourth quarter (just 17 points for Charlotte) — but again, the Bobcats aren’t a good offensive team by any means. They’ve been much better under Paul Silas, but this isn’t a powerhouse. Still, a month ago OKC probably wins this game 108-95 or something. For the billionth time, things are different now.

Nobody did anything that outrageous for OKC. It was more of a simple stat night with some good all-around work. Durant had 25 on 9-18. James Harden piled up 21 off the bench on 13 shots. Russell Westbrook finished with 18 and seven assists and Ibaka stuffed the sheet again with 12 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. That’s the type of balanced box score I like. Well, I take that back. I like it when KD drops 40, but you know what I mean.

Like I said, not the best offensive effort and even Scott Brooks noticed it saying he thought the team was a bit out of sync and even said they played a step slower than usual. Brooks prefers a good amount of up-tempo action and the Thunder didn’t get out in transition much. The halfcourt execution was decent, but nothing special. Again, the team is focused on winning defensively and that was definitely the primary reason for the victory tonight. With Westbrook and Durant, the offense will take care of itself most times.

NOTES:

With the game at home, I got the chance to really see how Perk communicated and controlled the defense. What he mainly does is hold everyone accountable. I’d be terrified if I missed an assignment and he yelled at me. After Westbrook let Augustin get by him and kind of gave up on it, Perk came over and barked something fierce at Russ. He doesn’t take crap like that. Scott Brooks on Perk’s accountability: “It’s always a good thing to have players police one another … It can’t always be me.”

Is it weird that I don’t feel entirely comfortable yet calling Kendrick Perkins “Perk”? I feel like we need more time together first.

Perkins is one of the first guys OKC has ever had that piles up rebounds without you noticing. I only remember him having one or two at the half and I looked at the box and he had five. Then I looked at the end of the game and he had nine and I could only recall one he grabbed in the second half. I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s nice to have a good rebounding center.

Ibaka had a crazy first quarter blocking three shots and almost a fourth. He just got a piece of that D.J. Augustin shot, but it still went in.

KD is so ridiculous in the post. Especially on the baseline where he spins off his right shoulder. With his length and how high he can shoot it, it’s honestly impossible to defend. He doesn’t do it enough, but I think that’s something we’ll see more and more of as he gets older.

Halftime Watch: Let’s Make a Thunder Deal. With a six-game homestand, I guess they’re spreading out the good stuff.

In the second quarter, Tyrus Thomas got bumped after a steal and fell down. On the way back down the floor he asked official Derrick Collison, “Is that not a foul?” Collins perked up like he didn’t like the tone of Thomas’s question and Thomas immediately said, “I’m just asking! I’m just asking!” Let me answer that for you Tyrus: I don’t think Collins thought it was, otherwise he would’ve, you know, called it.

I think reputation is hurting Perk (see, I’m trying) with his screens. Scott Foster nailed him on a pick you see 50 times a night without a whistle. Perkins got hit with two illegal screens tonight. The first was a good call. The second was awful.

We’re seeing four quarter defense, consistently. This is a good thing.

KD went down on the baseline in the third quarter and looked to be hurt badly. All he did was bump his head on a photographer but he looked really hurt for about three seconds. I wanted to run out on the court and see if he was OK like I was his mom or something. He ended up banging his shoulder on that play too and Scott Brooks said after the game he was fine and called it just a shoulder bruise.

Russell Westbrook with another in-game beauty of a dunk. Not as good as the windmill, but good.

Fifteen straight games Harden has scored in double-figures.

I love how Ibaka and Perk check back in together. They really are the Bash Brothers. I don’t know who’s Fulton and who’s Dean Portman though. Someone said to me Perk is Portman because he’s much more mouthy. I can see that, though Serge is pretty talkative too. I really get the feeling though Perk is turning into Ibaka’s Kevin Garnett. Teaching him how to play with an edge. The communicate a lot with each other throughout the game and Perk made it a point to give Ibaka a nice tap on the head after good plays.

I talked to D.J. White after the game to get his thoughts about the new Thunder. He said, “Where they look different for one is they don’t have the stretch shooters no more. You don’t have a Jeff Green or Nenad Krstic. So the offense is a little different, but that’s just my opinion. They’re more forceful up front and I guess that’s what the organization was looking for. They still look good. Defensively I think they’re a little better with Perkins.”

Also, I asked D.J. if it was weird coming back. “Oh yeah it was weird at first. Especially coming in and sitting on the opposing bench.” And then on him playing more and playing pretty well: “It does feel good. I didn’t a chance to play as much here in OKC. But that’s part of the business. A lot of people have moved on to different teams and played well and I’ve been playing well so far. But one thing I’ll always remember is that I was on the first team here so that’ll always be special to me and I hope to the people here. But like I said you move on. I always keep in contact with those guys, but it’s just part of it.”

Brian Davis Line of the Night (via @HoopsAddictOKC): “It looked like one of my cats snatching that ball.”

I watched the game late last night after DVRing it and had my experience ruined by the text alert giving up the final score. After I recieved the alert I thought there was a typo on the final score. With over 6 minutes left the Bobcats had 79 points and only finished with 82. I truely though it was going to be 92. The D stepped up big time at the end of the game and I was truely impressed.

Russ is also slightly more overall effeicent with a .001 lead in TS% and higer useage. Russ is having a great season but not an MVP season. I do wish he would really focus in on D because he give up as much penatration (no homo) as any guard in the league.

@Daniel PlainviewI watched the game on LP late last night and did not really take in the box score until this morning. I thought Harden had an ok night, he was pretty bad on D for the first time in a while and I thought he was just off on O. However, he was actually dominate on O. He scores over 20 points on over 70% TS%. That is awsome. For the season he is now at excatly 60% TS% after a really slow start. Mark my words, when he starts getting 36 minutes a game he will be this teams second best player and will average 20 ppg on 60% TS%, but you are right he needs to start.

@Thomasyeah, I was just somewhat curious as to how the other players were responding. Some of the posts made it sound like Perk was just shouting at people (No doubtm strategically) and Ibaka yelled back once or twice. Was curious as if it might cause potential frission or its exactyl what the Dr ordered

Daniel Plainview :Any word on how the other Thunder palyers are adjusting to Perks vocal fare? Its quite a novel approach for them. I can see Durant embracing it, but wondering if Westbrook might be a little put off by it. Im sure its still to early to tell, and even if they hit a rough patch, we could chalk it up to growing pains

I'm sure its just such a relief to have a guy who can "read" the defense in a sense they probably enjoy it.

Any word on how the other Thunder palyers are adjusting to Perks vocal fare? Its quite a novel approach for them. I can see Durant embracing it, but wondering if Westbrook might be a little put off by it. Im sure its still to early to tell, and even if they hit a rough patch, we could chalk it up to growing pains

justin :GK isn’t that great a coach but he’s 1000x better than D’Antoni. Nash made D’Antoni.

I don't think you're giving Karl enough credit. While he was bleh for the Bucks, he made a huge difference with the Sonics and he's been great with the Nuggets. He's one of the better coaches in the league without a doubt. I would say top 10.

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how this current squad would stack up vs. the 96 Sonics. If the two faced off in a seven game series? I’m thinking, right now, I’d take the 96 squad in 5 games. But I might have to drastically re-evaluate in a year. Or in a couple months.

I think the '96 team would win but only because of experience. Give our current roster another year or so and I think we might win in a sweep. And don't forget, that handing checking works both ways. Our sometimes lax perimeter defense would benefit guarding them as well.

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how this current squad would stack up vs. the 96 Sonics. If the two faced off in a seven game series? I’m thinking, right now, I’d take the 96 squad in 5 games. But I might have to drastically re-evaluate in a year. Or in a couple months.

If the game is played under 1996 rules then the Sonics win handily, IMO.

I think that 96 team wins either way, but especially with hand checking. However, just the thought of Detlef guarding Durant makes me cringe.

I am looking at the Mav's upcoming schedule. They have Golden State and Minnesota at home (both probable wins) before a six game road stretch that includes @Utah @Phoenix @LAC @LAL @Golden State @Portland. I think if we are going to catch them, they have to struggle on that road trip. They have to be .500 or worse or I don't think we can catch them, but that is possible. @Phoenix @LAL & @ POR are all second nights of a back to back. Their only road game after that is @HOU, which shouldn't be a problem for them. Their last 4 home games are Denver, LAC, Phoenix, New Orleans. I don't think they lose more than 1 of those games, but maybe we get lucky and they lose 2. After all of that I have them finishing winning at least 8 of their last 13 and maybe more like 10. 8 would put them at 56-26.

This would mean that we would have to win 10 of our last 14 to tie them/pass them, which we would do since the first tie-breaker is division winner vs non-division winner. This is possible for us given our weak schedule, but it will not be easy. And it also brings up the question of how high do we want to be seeded in the first place? If we finish 4th, we will face SAS in the second round and then LAL/DAL in the finals. If we pass Dallas, we will face LAL in the second and probably SAS in the finals. Pretty sure we will face SAS either way, and at least if we finish 4th there is a chance we dodge the Lakers. There is obviously a benefit to getting to the 2 seed, but I just don't see the Lakers losing enough games for that to happen. Anyway, just curious about everyone's thoughts about whether we really want to pass the Mavs?

Danny :@LALNeither Dallas nor LAL have an easy schedule from here-out. I would say we have the easiest of the three teams positioning for 2.I doubt OKC gets there, but it’s possible. And it’d be pretty cool.. The Lakers host the Mavs, the Thunder, and San Antonio.Go new-Thunder!

Something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately is how this current squad would stack up vs. the 96 Sonics. If the two faced off in a seven game series? I’m thinking, right now, I’d take the 96 squad in 5 games. But I might have to drastically re-evaluate in a year. Or in a couple months.

If the game is played under 1996 rules then the Sonics win handily, IMO.

Here's a nice quote for those of you who were under delusions earlier in the year that Jeff Green would be returning to the Thunder:

"If you're drafted fifth overall, and you play well, and you're 24 and your team comes to you with an extension offer, if it's not a max deal or near a max deal, there's really no incentive to do it," said David Falk, Green's agent. "He might not have been the No. 2 guy in Oklahoma City, but there are teams out there that might look at him as their No. 2."

Dr. Rumble :Hey thunder fans, great win! I was at the game and didn’t see if anyone mentioned this, but did anyone see Tyrus Thomas yelling at a fan from the bench? He literally yelled back and forth with a guy for about 5-10 minutes. It was crazy, I have never seen a guy communicate w a fan in an angry way for that long of a time. Anyways, if anyone was close to that, can they please explain to me what that was about. I would really love to know. It was very entertaining to watch from a far, haha. Again, sorry if this has been talked about, but I’m too lazy to look through all the posts.

only game i was at where a player got that intense was Ty Chandler yelling at the fans. I was 3rd row, cross court of visitors bench and he was barking a mess. Yelled at a fan for saying he sucks and said a berly understandable line with 3 or 4 curse words while shouting like conan

Dr. Rumble :Hey thunder fans, great win! I was at the game and didn’t see if anyone mentioned this, but did anyone see Tyrus Thomas yelling at a fan from the bench? He literally yelled back and forth with a guy for about 5-10 minutes. It was crazy, I have never seen a guy communicate w a fan in an angry way for that long of a time. Anyways, if anyone was close to that, can they please explain to me what that was about. I would really love to know. It was very entertaining to watch from a far, haha. Again, sorry if this has been talked about, but I’m too lazy to look through all the posts.

only game i was at where a player got that intense was Ty Chandler yelling at the fans. I was 3 roll, visitors vench cross court and he was barking a mess. Yelled at a fan for saying he sucks and said an berly understandable line with 3 or 4 curse words while shouting like conan

Hey thunder fans, great win! I was at the game and didn't see if anyone mentioned this, but did anyone see Tyrus Thomas yelling at a fan from the bench? He literally yelled back and forth with a guy for about 5-10 minutes. It was crazy, I have never seen a guy communicate w a fan in an angry way for that long of a time. Anyways, if anyone was close to that, can they please explain to me what that was about. I would really love to know. It was very entertaining to watch from a far, haha. Again, sorry if this has been talked about, but I'm too lazy to look through all the posts.

@JustinSomething I've been thinking a lot about lately is how this current squad would stack up vs. the 96 Sonics. If the two faced off in a seven game series? I'm thinking, right now, I'd take the 96 squad in 5 games. But I might have to drastically re-evaluate in a year. Or in a couple months.